Re: Stability of 15 MHz ZipGS

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) writes...
>
>   I just replaced my 8/16 ZipGS with an upgraded 15/64 ZipGS (15 MHz! :) 
>and seem to have come across as to whether the board is stable or not. 
>When launching System 6.0.1, I've noticed the entire system will lock-up 
>after a couple of mouse clicks. To be more specific, the mouse-cursor 
>still moves around, but everything in the background is frozen (I cannot 
>even access the CDA menu, my only option is a Control-Reset at that point).
>Just double-clicking on folders, moving a window around, or clicking on
>a scrollbar causes a lock-up, within just a few seconds. 
[snip]

   Sorry to follow-up on my own article a second time, but I think
I've discovered the reason for those constant lock-ups. When things
continued to get increasingly worse, I decided to try taking some load
off my stock powersupply. I disconnected my all my floppy drives
(SuperDrive, Apple 3.5, Apple 5.25), my Quickie scanner and pulled out
my ComputerEyes GS slot card. Ever since doing so, everything has been
perfectly stable (at least it seems to be now, certainly nothing like I
described above). I guess the 15/64 ZipGS put a much greater demand on
my powersupply, I'm surprised something like this didn't happen sooner.
The only mystery is why shift-booting helped, unless the added software
interrupts from some extensions helped magnify the problem...

Below is what I have "feeding" off my 60 watt supply:

Slot 1: Quickie Interface
Slot 2: MDIdeas SuperSonic stereo w/digitizer daughterboard
Slot 3: ZipGS 15/64
Slot 4: ComputerEyes GS
Slot 5:
Slot 6: Apple II 3.5 Controller Card
Slot 7: RamFAST SCSI (Rev D) 1MB cache
MemExp: RAM GS 4MB board

- Apple SuperDrive
- Apple 3.5
- Apple 5.25
- Mach III Joystick
- Quickie scanner

Obviously all that was just too much for a 60 watt supply, with the
ZipGS being the final straw. Hopefully replacing it with a 150-200
watt PC supply will solve all this, and I know just the doctor to
contact for the cure! ;-) (Hi Steve!) I still wouldn't mind opinions
though, as to whether the source of the problem was an overloaded 
supply or not.


Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca